Last year, Ava DuVernay, the acclaimed film director who came to widespread public attention through
13th, a film about race and mass incarceration, organized an art exhibition at the Signature African Art gallery in London that included works by Giggs Kgole, Oluwole Omofemi, and 11 other artists.
Now, Khalil Akar, the gallery director who planned the exhibition with DuVernay, is working with her on another iteration of the show, scheduled to open in Los Angeles later this year.
We caught up with Akar about the project, its ties to DuVernay’s Leap Foundation, and the role the art world can place in social justice movements.